Under the watchful eyes of the three elders, the blood-red light gradually faded, and the silver light slowly sank into Xu Mingxi's head. Just as they breathed a sigh of relief, something strange happened.
"Retreat, get back from here."
The Grand Elder was the first to sense the changes occurring beside Xu Mingxi. Uncertain of what it was, he quickly pulled the other two elders back with him.
"Grand Elder, what's happening? Mingxi will be okay, right?"
"I don't know, but we can't interfere. He must rely on himself for everything now."
The three elders could only watch as starlight appeared around Xu Mingxi, gradually gathering into tiny floating stars.
At that moment, Xu Mingxi's Martial Soul, the Star Crown, emerged, and his eighth and ninth soul rings, glowing bright red, lit up simultaneously.
Eighth soul skill: The Sun Rises in the Sky
Ninth soul skill: Sirius Worships the Moon
Among the many stars, a golden-red sun and a silver crescent moon slowly rose. The sun, moon, and stars combined, producing a stunning transformation.
The range covered by the starlight suddenly expanded, including the three elders. They could feel their soul power circulating and recovering faster within their bodies.
Sitting cross-legged among the sun, moon, and stars, Xu Mingxi opened his eyes. Gold, silver, and red light swirled within them. He looked around, sensed the changes in his body, and understood everything clearly in his heart.
He stood up and walked toward the three elders. The Star Crown Martial Soul vanished, and the sun, moon, and stars turned into specks of light and disappeared into the air.
The Grand Elder approached with joy. His eldest grandson had finally become a Titled Douluo. With this, as long as he returned safely to the Douluo Continent, the Star Crown Sect would surely grow stronger.
"Mingxi, what just happened? Why did I feel my soul power recover faster, and even the Star Crown Martial Soul seemed to tremble?"
"Grandfather, this is a domain I gained after absorbing the soul ring of the Moon-Worshiping Wolf King. I call it the Star Domain.
In this domain, I can control the sun, moon, and stars within to attack at will, and I receive an overall power boost of 30%. This also affects the Star Crown Martial Soul, though its boost is reduced to 10%."
The Grand Elder was stunned for a moment. A domain? In the history of the Star Crown Sect, no one had ever possessed one except for their ancestor, Star Douluo.
Even for Star Douluo, according to records, the domain only granted enhancements, but the effect was never this overwhelming, let alone an all-around enhancement.
Thanks to their shared fourth soul skill, Star Guardian, Star Crown Sect disciples could merge star power and excel in team combat. With this domain, even Qian Daoliu wouldn't dare attack the Star Crown Sect directly.
"Good, good. Mingxi, let's return to Haidu and find a way back to the Douluo Continent."
The Grand Elder was overjoyed. Their mission to the Sun-Moon Continent had been exceeded, and they had also gathered valuable information about soul guides in Risheng City, including several level-eight soul engineers. With this intelligence, the Star Crown Sect's strength would increase drastically.
Xu Mingxi nodded. He had the same thought. If he didn't return soon, Tang San would grow stronger, and things would become troublesome. He hoped Song Jiang could gain something.
The four of them hurried toward Haidu, but what they saw and learned upon leaving the Lanto Forest and entering the Oran Empire's territory shocked them.
"Mingxi, the three empires have really gone to war. According to a city lord who just escaped, the Sun-Moon Empire holds absolute advantage and is about to unify the continent. What should we do now?"
Xu Mingxi and the three elders disguised themselves and hid their identities, resting in a small town. They didn't expect to hear such shocking news.
He never imagined the war would erupt so suddenly, but he had no intention of getting involved. The most important thing now was to return to the Douluo Continent—their stronghold.
With soul guides having been introduced earlier, and with the quality of soul masters on the Douluo Continent far surpassing those of the Sun-Moon Continent, even if the two continents eventually came into contact, the Douluo Continent would still hold a major advantage.
"Grandfather, forget them. Let's take a detour to Haidu. Song Jiang should find a way to avoid this war."
The three elders nodded. None of them wanted to fight to the death with people from the Sun-Moon Continent. Even the oldest elder, who had lost his arm to Xu Zilong, didn't want to get involved right now.
In such a massive war, even a Titled Douluo could very well die.
This was indeed the case. Several heroes had already fallen on the frontlines of the war between the three empires.
On the first day of war, Xu Zilong personally entered the battlefield. The great general of the Otto Empire, the newly promoted Titled Douluo Tobo, activated his flying soul guide and charged forward at high speed, only to be beaten severely within minutes.
Seeing Tobo about to fall, the veteran royal Titled Douluo of the Otto Empire could no longer sit idly by. Though seriously injured, he forced himself to push back Xu Yang, the Sun Lineage Titled Douluo of the Sun-Moon Empire. At the cost of his own life, he self-destructed, forcing Xu Zilong to retreat and saving Tobo.
Xu Zilong was lightly injured by the explosion. Tobo finally realized his own weakness and retreated in time. He detonated the level-eight soul guide he carried, narrowly making it back to the Otto Empire's forces.
With the death of Toth, the balance of war completely collapsed. Lan Che of the Oran Empire stopped Xu Yue, the Titled Douluo of the Silver Moon Lineage. Tobo and several Soul Douluo generals barely held off Xu Zilong, but no Titled Douluo could stop Xu Yang's killing spree.
At this moment, Tony, the Emperor of the Otto Empire, appeared out of nowhere. Piloting a ninth-level armored soul guide passed down through generations in the Otto Empire, he burned his life force to restrain Xu Yang, preventing his empire's immediate collapse.
However, if the war remained deadlocked, both kingdoms would eventually be destroyed. Lance helplessly watched as the Oran Empire's forces were decimated under the Sun-Moon Empire's soul guide artillery, unable to hold back his tears.
He deliberately exposed a weakness to lure Xu Yue into stabbing his heart. But due to a special soul bone from a cockroach-type soul beast, he could survive in a near-death state for some time.
Using this skill, Lance decapitated Xu Yue with a single strike before her stunned eyes. He forced himself to stand while the soul skill was still active, rushed to Xu Zilong, and self-destructed.
The back-to-back self-destructions of two Titled Douluo even forced someone as powerful as Xu Zilong to vomit blood, and his level-nine defensive soul guide was completely destroyed.
Tobo seized the opportunity and tried to shoot Xu Zilong in the heart, but only hit his shoulder as Xu Zilong dodged at the last second.